


keep an eye on me tonight

by cupcakeb



Series: easier when life gets hard [1]
Category: Elite (TV)
Genre: Carla and Rebe bond over their stupid boyfriends, F/M, Female Friends for Rebe 2k20, any friends for Carla 2k20 tbh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2020-08-17
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:00:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25957147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cupcakeb/pseuds/cupcakeb
Summary: It’s not that Rebeka hates her, really. She doesn’t even know her.Valerio moves in with Samu, and suddenly Carla is around all the time, whether Rebe likes it or not.Maybe she and Carla can bond over that; over dating these two fucking fools masquerading as men.
Relationships: Carla Rosón Caleruega/Samuel García Domínguez, Rebeca "Rebe" de Bormujo Ávalos & Carla Rosón Caleruega, Rebeca "Rebe" de Bormujo Ávalos/Valerio Montesinos Hendrich
Series: easier when life gets hard [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1941667
Comments: 20
Kudos: 70





	keep an eye on me tonight

Things are starting to look up in January.  


It’s really nice to finally be able to settle in at school without all the murder mystery bullshit. Polo confesses, Carla testifies against him, and he ends up getting minimal time in a rehab facility, mainly because he wasn’t tried as an adult and showed remorse.Supposedly.

Whatever. Rebeka is so done talking about all of that. Maybe she’ll finally be able to actually _learn_ something at school this semester, now that all the insanity is over.

Her new hobby of choice is Valerio. When she first hooks up with him at the club, it’s to take her mind off of the fact that Samuel is actually _dating_ Carla now, which Rebe is kind of bitter about. 

But then she remembers how terrible her one-sided crush felt, how shitty their timing was, and realizes it’s probably not worth her time. There’s no point in pining away only to feel utterly miserable — maybe they’re better off as friends. Valerio is hot, if a little erratic at times, and she likes him as more than just a distraction. 

He’s a pretty good distraction too, though. 

Then he moves in with Samuel, a development that Rebe is pretty stoked about, if only because it gives them a parent-free place to hang out at all the time. 

They’re on the living room couch one night, and Valerio has just pulled her into his lap and unclasped her bra under her shirt when the front door opens and she hears a familiar sultry voice. She’s never really thought about it, but even Carla’s voice annoys her. 

Great. With all the excitement about Valerio moving in, she’d completely forgotten that Carla is gonna be around a lot now, too. 

It’s not that Rebeka hates her, really. She doesn’t even know her. But from everything she’s seen of her at school, from the way she literally fucked Samuel to keep Polo’s secret, Rebe kind of gathers that she’s not the kind of person she’d enjoy being friends with. Even a change of heart and doing the right thing in the end can’t make that go away.

Valerio pulls away from her to greet them, says something about them joining them for a drink, and Rebeka casually elbows him to let him know she’s annoyed with him for it. 

Then she’s annoyed with Samu, who actually walks to the kitchen and comes back with four beers, sitting down next to them and motioning for Carla to sit down in his lap. 

Both of them are fucking hopeless at reading the room. Maybe she and Carla can bond over that; over dating these two fucking fools masquerading as men. Carla seems to agree, glances at Rebe and rolls her eyes a little — at least they’ve got animosity for each other in common. That’s a start. Rebe sort of gestures at her with her beer bottle to let her know she’s on the same page. 

The girls sip their beers in silence while the boys talk about some random movie they watched the other day and it’s all way too fucking weird for Rebe’s liking. She’s still sort of half sitting in Valerio’s lap, and he’s shirtless behind her — she honestly can think of a million things she’d rather be doing right now than sit here and listen to Samu and Val bro out over some dumb action flick. 

When she finishes her beer, she grabs Valerio’s hand and plays with it. “This has been _fun_ , but I’m tired,” she says to the couple next to her, then leans in and whispers something downright filthy in Valerio’s ear. He groans and slaps her thighs to let her know to get up and she smirks when she does. 

“I do not want to know what she just said to you,” Samuel tells Valerio, who laughs and pets the shorter boy on the shoulder. 

Rebeka wants to hurry this along. 

“You don’t. Sorry for any screaming in advance.” 

Carla snorts at that, and Rebe can’t decide if she’ll allow it. She’s not sure the blonde is allowed to laugh at her self-serving jokes yet. 

It may take her some time to get over her irrational dislike for the girl. 

For now, Valerio makes sure to distract her. He’s great at that. 

**

It becomes a little bit of a thing for Rebe — a point of contention, or whatever. Every time Valerio tells her to come over, the first thing she asks is whether Samu (and Carla) is (are) gonna be around. Today is no different. 

“So what if they are,” Valerio tells her after school, leaning against his car. He huffs a little, and she knows that’s his way of being annoyed but acting like he isn’t. He’ll usually stay all casual but throw in some indignant sounds.

“You could come back to my place,” she suggests instead, hands going out to play with the array of bracelets on his arm. 

But he just shakes his head, sending his curls flying. “Your mother is fucking terrifying.” 

Rebe sighs, then relents, kissing him quickly before getting into the passenger seat. Then she sees Carla and Samuel walking towards them, and instantly groans. She should’ve known Valerio was probably driving them home, too. 

Carla is wearing her usual bitchy-hot underage school girl fetish porn uniform, her skirt just barely hitting the middle of her thigh, her white blouse somehow both tasteful and giving off ‘ _I’m better than you_ ’ vibes. Rebe isn’t a fan, but has to admit the whole look is kind of a work of art, down to the soft way her hair falls around her face and the simple, innocent makeup. The girl really knows how to pull off looking aloof and out of everyone’s league — Samu is one lucky bastard. 

Speak of the devil and he shall appear — Samu holds the car door open for her and the blonde grins at him as she slides into the back of the BMW. 

“Since when are you such a gentleman?” 

Rebe kind of thinks she’s got a point, but she’s not gonna acknowledge that. She has no interest in siding with Carla on anything. Instead, she drums her fingers on the side of the convertible impatiently and gives Valerio a pointed look. 

He pushes his shades up on the bridge of his nose and shrugs at her and she already knows she won’t be able to actually get mad at him for this. He’s too pretty to stay mad at. 

They listen to music, fighting over who gets to pick the playlist, and when Carla vocally agrees with Rebe on putting on ABBA’s greatest hits, she glances back at the blonde in the rearview mirror and smiles a little. 

Just because they both like Swedish 70s pop doesn’t mean they like each other. 

As they loudly sing along to Voulez-Vous, their hair flowing in the wind with the convertible top down, Rebe wonders if maybe, just maybe, she has no idea who Carla really is. Then again, no part of her cares enough to find out. 

It’s still astounding to her that none of the objectively terrible people she goes to school with are actually all that terrible once you get to know them. She doesn’t want to believe in complex personalities and gray areas, but she’s seen enough proof to know they exist.

Then again, she’s also seen enough proof that Bush did 9/11 online, and that doesn’t mean she believes in that, either. 

(Jet fuel can’t melt steel beams, though.) 

** 

Valerio takes her to some party on a Friday in late January, says something about getting high, and she only fights him on it a little before she swallows the little blue pill. 

She really, really likes the occasional trip. She never takes anything crazy — usually just ecstasy — and is always with people she trusts, and she figures as long as she doesn’t make it a habit, that’s fine. Sue her for enjoying life, or whatever, okay?

They leave the club around one in the morning, earlier than planned, because if she has to wait any longer for him to just fucking touch her already, she might combust. His eager grin when she tells him as much is intimidatingly hot — she’ll blame the smidge of drugs in her system for the way a little bit of a shudder runs down her spine at the sight of it. Or she would, except they’ve mostly worn off, aside from the way her pupils are still slightly dilated and her inhibitions still mostly gone.

The apartment is dimly lit when they get back, so someone’s home, but it doesn’t look like anyone is actually awake. 

Valerio shushes her when she moans loudly in reaction to him pushing her up against the wall next to his room, and she laughs, whispers, “What, you don’t want to show them what you’ve got?”  
  
She should really know better than to challenge him at this point. He may act all casual and chill, but he has a serious competitive streak; probably from growing up around someone like Lu.  
  
It shouldn’t surprise her when he just keeps her pinned to the wall, bites at her neck and instantly pushes a hand into her shorts. When she lets out a high pitched moan, he moves his other hand up to cover her mouth. 

While she’d love nothing more than to scream his name, this is pretty hot, too. She drags him into his room forcefully, then proceeds to take all of her excess energy out on him in the most fun way she can think of.  
  
He looks completely spent and done with life after, and she figures she’ll take pity on him and get them something to eat. She’s thirsty as hell anyway. Not drinking enough water while on drugs is pretty dumb, but it’s not like she’s ever particularly health-conscious —she forgets to drink water on regular days, too. Grabbing the t-shirt Valerio was wearing before from the floor, she pulls it on and laughs at the pained sound he makes when she mumbles something about being back in a minute. Fucking drama queen.  
  
The house is quiet, and it’s nearing 3:00 in the morning so she’s a little surprised when she walks into the kitchen and sees Carla in there, wearing the white button-down Samu wore to school today and very little else. Her hair is up in a loose messy bun and her cheeks are a little flushed. Rebe smiles at her as she goes for the fridge and wonders what the fuck is wrong with her. Must be the fact that it’s the middle of the night. And the drugs, maybe. Probably.  
  
“Hey,” Carla says. Rebe just nods at her. “I had no idea you were around.”  
  
Rebe laughs, takes a look around the fridge and closes it again when she can’t find anything to snack on. “Why? It’s not like I’m quiet,” she says.  
  
Carla grins at her and honestly, what sort of weird parallel universe is this? Are they friends now, just because they both look thoroughly fucked and met up in their boyfriends’ kitchen in the middle of the night looking for sustenance to replenish their energy levels?  
  
Getting a glass from one of the cabinets, she fills it to the brim with tap water and chugs the whole thing. Carla gives her a little knowing look, but Rebe really can’t be bothered to have a conversation about recreational drug use with little miss fancy-pants right now.  
  
She rummages through one of the drawers, sighing when the only edible thing she finds is a multipack of snickers. “How the fuck do these two keep in shape when all the food they have in this house is junk?”  
  
“Unfair advantages of male teenage hormones,” Carla muses, taking a sip from her water bottle. She’s eating from some sort of package of trail mix and holds it out to Rebe.  
  
“Rabbit food? D’you bring this specifically for midnight snack purposes?”  
  
“Yeah,” Carla laughs quietly. “Not my first rodeo.”  
  
And fuck it, it’s late and they’re both half naked; if there’s ever an occasion to begrudgingly accept an olive branch from Carla, this is probably it. Rebe takes a handful of nuts from the little plastic package and pops all of them in her mouth at once, chewing loudly on purpose.  
  
“Thanks,” she says, then grabs another glass and fills that with water, too.  
  
As she walks out, she glances back at Carla. “You look hot,” she says, because she does, especially with her hair all messy and only one of the buttons on Samu’s shirt done up.  
  
“Thanks?” Carla says, almost asking. "Nice shirt.”  
  
That's enough bonding for now. “G’night,” she calls over her shoulder as she leaves the kitchen.  
  
Wow. They were actually just civil to each other. Nice, even.  
  
“Who were you talking to?”  
  
Valerio is still leaning back against the pillows when she shuts the door to his room again and throws a snickers at him. He doesn’t catch it, of course; his reflexes are fucking terrible after years of drug use. He looks like a total dumbass, but that makes her laugh, and she hands him the glass of water.  


“Carla.” 

At that, he gives her a dubious look, like he wasn’t expecting it. “Really?”  
  
"Yeah. She was half-naked and so was I. Great recipe for bonding." He chuckles and sneaks his arm around her waist after she's set her glass down on the nightstand. "What?"  
  
“Nothing.”  
  
“Oh, shut up.” He tears open the snickers wrapper and takes a bite. “You know I don’t like her.”  
  
He gives her a look like he knows this but doesn’t want to get into it.  
  
“Are you staying over?” She really likes it when he changes the subject before either of them can get pissed about stuff.  
  
“I thought me not putting my clothes back on and bringing you food was an obvious indication of that.” 

In the morning (so... lunchtime) Rebe drags a reluctant Valerio out of bed. They find Carla and Samu in the kitchen having pancakes, and when Rebe loudly tells Val it would be nice for him to actually keep something of nutritional value in the fridge, Carla laughs and gestures wildly to Samu, like she’s told him this before. 

“She’s not wrong.”

It’s probably not the beginning of a beautiful friendship, but it’s pretty amusing anyway.  
  
**  
  
She gets a text from an unknown number one night and literally considers just blocking it until she cross-references it with their Las Encinas WhatsApp group chat and realizes it’s from Carla.  
  
It’s Sunday afternoon and she’s still at Valerio’s place, sort of trying to work on this stupid essay that’s due tomorrow. Valerio has written maybe three words total so far — his name — and she’s still a page short of being done too. 

She’s just about to pack up her stuff and head home to work on this somewhere with no hot, shirtless dudes to distract her when her phone vibrates with the previously mentioned text.  
  
_Left my laptop at the boys’ place. Can u bring it over?_  
  
Apparently, she and Carla are close enough to do each other favors now. Not that it’s even really much of a favor since they live in the same neighborhood, but it still feels like a pretty big step. She’s not gonna make it that easy for her, though.  
  
_What’s in it for me?_  
  
Valerio is still absentmindedly running a hand over her calf as he lounges at the other end of the bed, googling something that’s probably unrelated to the history essay he’s supposed to be writing, so she figures she may as well engage in a random text based conversation with Carla.  
  
_Really good wine?_  
  
She’s not huge on wine, but the idea of getting to look around Carla’s parents’ mansion is kind of intriguing — she’s never gotten to hang out around nobility before. That seems a hell of a lot more interesting than staring at her essay for another hour.  
  
When she doesn’t reply straight away, Carla tries again.  
  
_Really good wine and the opportunity to talk about how stupid our boyfriends are_  
  
That makes her laugh, and Valerio looks up at her, a curious look on his face.  
  
“Who are you texting?”  
  
“Carla,” she admits. He looks more impressed by that than he should be. “I’m gonna take off soon,” she tells him, and he instantly runs his hand up her leg to try and change her mind. Classic Valerio move.  
  
“Didn’t you want to finish your essay?” Valerio asks, and she playfully kicks him in the shoulder with her foot. 

“Didn’t you want to _not_ pretend you care about my homework and at least make me come before I have to leave?”  
  
He doesn’t need to be told twice, so at least he’s got that going for him — he takes direction well. 

After, she knocks on Samu’s door, grabs Carla’s laptop bag and leaves the boys in the living room looking like they’re completely flabbergasted at the mere thought of their girlfriends communicating with each other. 

She texts Carla back, asks for her address, and she’s across town and at her door in twenty minutes. 

They're both sort of awkwardly standing there for a moment after she hands over the laptop, neither of them sure how this is gonna go. 

“Hey, were you serious about the wine and the bitching? ‘cause believe me, I have a lot of good stories for you,” Rebe says. 

Carla grins at her and opens the door a little wider, motions for her to follow her. “Let’s hear it.” 

Turns out they do actually have a few things in common, the main thing being their awareness of just how ridiculous the boys they’re dating actually are. 

“Sometimes I’m like, man, why the fuck am I even with this dumbass,” Rebe says after her first glass of wine. Carla nods in agreement. “And then I remember his abs and that thing he does with his tongue and— I guess I could do worse.” 

Carla pours them both another glass of wine. 

“You know Samuel still thinks I like his cooking? I’ve told him so many times that I don’t want him to ‘waste his time’ on it and suggested takeout. Is he ever gonna just get the hint?” 

Rebe snorts and gives her a look. “We both know he’s not very good at subtext.” 

They finish the bottle of wine, switch from catching up about their moronic boyfriends to talking about school, and when Rebe has to leave to meet her mom for dinner, she almost feels a little sad about it. Carla is kind of fun. 

There’s a thought she never expected to have. 

**  
  
Valerio and Samuel are both still taking swim class, something which Rebe got out of the second her school counselor told her it was optional for their last semester. Unfortunately, that leaves her with no one to have lunch with on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, since that’s when practice is and almost everyone else seems to think swimming is a valid use of their time. Everyone at this school is fucking weird. 

It’s an easy A she doesn’t need, and she’d rather not fuck up her hair with all that chlorine every week, too. 

It shouldn’t come as a surprise to her that Carla feels the same way. What does surprise her is the fact that the blonde sits down next to her without warning during lunch on Wednesday and stares at the sad looking, tiny green apple Rebe is clutching. 

“Do you wanna get real food?”

There’s a few decent restaurants not too far from campus, and Rebe wouldn’t mind eating actual food instead of her sad excuse for a healthy snack. 

“I could probably eat,” she says, then grabs her phone and gets up, a lopsided smile on her lips when Carla follows her lead. 

When Valerio sends her a shirtless picture from the locker room after practice, she replies with one of Carla smiling down at her plate of sushi, and rolls her eyes at his reply. 

_look at that!!! BFFs_

It’s too soon to think of Carla as a friend at all, but she supposes the notion is there. 

They’ve moved on from mutual avoidance, at least.  
  
She shows Carla the picture of Valerio and the blonde grins at her, a mischievous look on her face.  
  
“So what’s he like,” she asks, then clarifies, “In bed."  
  
Rebe laughs while launching into her answer, which is probably a little too detailed.  
  
She loves people who aren't afraid to be blunt, and she doesn't care that this is literally maybe the second conversation they've ever had.  


**  
  
They all go to Lu’s weird reversed gender roles Valentine’s party, and for some reason Rebe agrees to head to Carla’s place before to get ready together. It feels a little too chick flick-y for her liking, but whatever.  
  
When she tells Valerio, he plays it kind of cool, but she can tell he’s both amused and excited by this development. Yeah, it’ll definitely make all of their lives easier if she and Carla get along.  
  
She’s really, really bad at making female friends. She’s too direct, too much of a tomboy, and rarely in the mood for the mundane chit chat rom coms have led her to believe are the bread and butter of any female friendship.  
  
Maybe that’s why she’s so pleasantly surprised that Carla is actually pretty chill. 

And yeah, Carla looks hot in a tux. Well, she looks hot in anything, but this? It’s totally giving Rebe ideas. It’s a good thing neither of them is single.  
  
“Damn,” is all she says when Carla finishes buttoning up her shirt. “Is there anything you can’t pull off?”  
  
Carla rolls her eyes playfully. “I promise you I couldn’t possibly pull off most of the outfits you wear.”  
  
That sort of makes Rebe want to test that theory, but she saves the idea for another day, just tugs on her jacket and gives Carla a curious look.  
  
“Well, monsieur, are we ready to find some hot chicks to bang or what?”  
  
Carla grins, then loops her arm through Rebe’s and nods.  
  
Samu and Valerio are both rocking a little bit of eyeliner when they get to the party, and the girls spend most of the night taunting them, groping them and telling them to smile more. It’s fucking hilarious.  
  
They all get fairly drunk, and when Carla pulls her out onto the dance floor and wraps her arms around her to slow dance as she loudly exclaims, “No homo,” Rebeka literally laughs so much her abs cramp up. Men are so fucking dumb.  
  
This whole actually having a female friend thing? It’s pretty nice.  
  
**  
  
The boys (so probably mainly Carla, based on the way the place is decorated and the food is actually edible) throw Rebe a birthday party in March, complete with balloons and stupid drinking games and excessive amounts of tequila. They probably could’ve had this party at her house, but she appreciates the intimacy of the run-down apartment — and the fact that her mother isn’t around to stir shit up is nice, too.  
  
It’s just her, Valerio and Carla left awake at the end of the night, having deposited a drunk Samu in his room a few minutes ago. They’re sitting on the sofa, and Rebe has her head in Valerio’s lap, her feet resting on Carla’s legs.  
  
She’s pleasantly tipsy, and a little tired, too.  
  
“Thanks for this,” she says, smiling. “Awesome party.”  
  
Valerio grins down at her and nods. “It was Carla’s idea.”  
  
“Obviously, dumbass, I wasn’t thanking _you_ ,” she laughs, and Carla squeezes her knee.  
  
“Are you saying you don’t think I could throw a party like this?”  
  
It’s Carla who chuckles and fixes Valerio with a look. “Maybe just stick to the partying itself.”  
  
There’s nothing particularly funny about it, but they’re all pretty drunk, so they crack up. Rebe sits up and hugs Carla, which the blonde enthusiastically reciprocates and this is maybe her favorite development of the year so far — the way she’s so comfortable with all three of the people regularly staying at this apartment.  
  
“Wow, looks like I’ve been replaced,” Valerio kind of pulls on her arm until she relents and sits down in his lap. He grins over at Carla. “Should I be jealous?”  
  
“Definitely. She tells me everything, so…” Carla trails off for emphasis. “You should be scared.”  
  
Valerio feigns offense, makes a scared face and Rebe rolls her eyes at him, smirking.  
  
“He thinks you’re joking,” she tells Carla. “Cute.”  
  
Rebe absolutely loves the way Valerio and Carla get into a mock fight over who’s best suited for her.  
  
It ends in a tie.  
  
**  
  
Rebeka has no fucking clue what to do with shit like this. She isn’t fucking stupid enough to fuck up her life by getting pregnant at 18, okay? She’s not. She’s been on birth control since before she even started having sex, she makes sure to take it at the same exact time every day, and she’s never been even a day late since.  
  
But then it’s April, and she’s kind of busy studying and trying not to fail these stupidly hard IB exams Las Encinas is having them take, which is a lot to handle. She doesn’t even realize her period is late until it’s _really_ late; like eight days late.  
  
And no, the middle of a fucking five hour math exam isn’t the best time to realize this, because she spends the rest of it trying not to come up with any worst-case scenarios.  
  
Valerio obviously isn’t taking these exams because he’s smart enough to know he couldn't possibly pass, so he’s not around when she gets out of the exam and anxiously waits for Carla to finish up. It’s probably a good thing he isn’t here because she would ideally like to avoid ever mentioning this moment of panic to him.  
  
Ideally meaning if it turns out to be a false alarm, which— well, it fucking better.  
  
Carla finally emerges from the auditorium a few minutes later, her calculator in hand, takes one look at Rebeka and immediately pulls on her arm to drag her outside. 

  
“Tell me,” is all she says, shielding Rebe from the crowd of students passing them on their way out of the building. “What’s wrong?”  
  
It’s a little worrying to think she’s that easy to read. She’s never had to rely on Carla for anything, and this is kind of a big step for her.  
  
Rebe tries to sound calm when she says, “Ever taken a pregnancy test before?”  
  
Carla just furrows her brow in response, a concerned look on her face, then nods. “Why?”  
  
“Could use some guidance.”  
  
There isn’t even a second of hesitation before Carla nods resolutely, links her arm through Rebeka’s and calls her driver to come pick them up.  
  
The test is negative, of course, which Rebe sort of expected. It’s still a huge relief.  
  
“Does that mean we can get drunk now?” She asks, practically jumping up from where she was previously huddled on Carla’s bed.  
  
They have more exams later this week and should both be studying, but this seems like the sort of extenuating circumstances that warrant an exception.  
  
Carla purses her lips. “It probably does.”  
  
“Thank fucking god.”  
  
It may be because the adrenaline from her little freakout is wearing off, but she thinks the white wine Carla pours them tastes better now than it did last time.  
  
A lot of things are better now. 

**Author's Note:**

> find me [on tumblr](http://cupcakeb.tumblr.com/)


End file.
